Friday, November 7, 2008

Also posted on the (new) legal writer blog by Raymond Ward, the JALWD (Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors) features a publication by M.H. Sam Jacobson titled A checklist for drafting good contracts that is recommended to all those who are involved in drafting contracts.

For all drafters, a checklist can ensure that the contract will contain the necessary substantive provisions and that the decisions about those provisions will have been made by design, not by accident. For the time-challenged drafter, a checklist eliminates the need to rethink from scratch what to include in a contract and how best to draft it. For the detail-challenged drafter, a checklist ensures that all tasks associated with the drafting are completed. For the occasional drafter, a checklist is an invaluable reminder of content and form that might otherwise be forgotten. For the experienced drafter, a checklist effectively reminds the drafter when boilerplate or often-used language is inappropriate, that special circumstances require special language.

The author recommends six basic steps:

Determine the substance of the contract

Analyze the audience

Organize material

Draft the contract

Design the document

Evaluate the document

Leave your comments sharing if you had a chance working with this publication and what was your experience. We look forward to reading them.